## Volume 4: Phoenix Crying in the Ninth Heaven

The tranquility of the General's Mansion was broken by the joint protest letter from four countries.

"Please take care of your pickle jar! Our Imperial Astronomical Observatory is going bald from analyzing the star chart on the jar, the Ministry of Revenue is using the pacifier formula to collect taxes, causing chaos in the treasury, and the Ministry of Works is building a bridge based on eternal numbers... and the bridge solved the equation itself and disappeared!"

> Lingbao sucked his fingers blankly, while the pickle jar under him was refreshing the expansion constant of the universe in real time.

>Dabao worked all night to write "The Pickle Jar Firewall", Erbao used a pacifier to seal the treasury account book, and Sanbao drove a cloud boat to chase the bridge.

"This system has issued the 'Universe-Level Knowledge Limitation Order,'" the Poisonous Tongue System posted a notice on the edge of the jar. "From now on, the content of the Pickle Jar will be graded. Reading requires certification from the Chenbao Abacus!"

---

After the abacus strike, the General's Mansion enjoyed a period of relative peace. Dabao Su Chen, reflecting on his mistakes, established a strict "work and rest schedule" for his own causal abacus, solemnly inscribing the words "work and rest in combination" on its frame (the handwriting was crooked, but full of heart). Lingbao Su Ling also seemed to have tempered his "teaching enthusiasm" somewhat, spending most of his time quietly observing the world from his stargazing cradle, occasionally leaving gentle traces of eternal light on the Holy Light chili vines, adding a touch of mathematical beauty to their dance. Erbao's pacifier was securely attached to his lips, Sanbao's cloud boat flew only at low altitude within a designated area, and Qiqi's Holy Light output remained within a safe threshold. Everything seemed to be back on track.

However, everyone overlooked a quiet yet crucial presence—the pickle jars dotted around the corners of the General's Mansion, bearing the whirlpools of stars, reflecting star maps, and unconsciously used by Lingbao as his "ultimate draft paper." This was especially true of jar number 7, the MVP-winning jar, and several others frequently visited by Lingbao. Their walls had long been saturated with the eternal patterns of light Lingbao had unconsciously drawn, transforming them into a kind of living memory, passively recording the underlying laws of the universe.

To ordinary people, these light patterns were merely blurry, faint traces of light that occasionally flashed across the pottery jars. However, in the eyes of certain monks and officials who possessed special observation instruments or were deeply versed in mathematics and physics, these jars were nothing less than Pandora's Boxes, revealing the secrets of heaven to the mortal world!

**Section 1. Joint Protest Letter from Four Countries**

A solemn, gold-rimmed scroll, signed jointly by the supreme authorities of the four nations and bearing the national seal, arrived at Xiao Jue's desk at a swift speed of eight hundred miles. The messengers, a special envoy dispatched by the four nations, all looked haggard, their eyes filled with accusation and... despair?

Xiao Jue unfolded the scroll, and Su Li curiously peeked in. At the beginning of the scroll were a series of shocking large characters:

**[A joint petition and urgent protest from four nations! To: His Excellency General Xiao Jue, the Great Protector of the Nation, and Madam Su Li, the Goddess of Medicine!]**

**[Reason: I implore you to immediately control the pickle jar in your palace! The unintentional disclosure of this secret has paralyzed the courts of four nations, disrupted the people's livelihoods, and driven the monks insane!]**

What followed was a dense, tearful accusation:

**Northern Di Royal Court:** "...Our country's Imperial Astronomical Observatory, a month ago, stumbled upon a rubbing of your mansion's star map, jar number 7 (Note: This was a glimpse of it through the wall of your mansion's backyard by a eunuch visiting relatives). Everyone in the Observatory reveled in it, deducing and analyzing it day and night. However, the mysteries of heaven are vast and beyond human grasp! The Chief Observer's hair turned white in three months, the Deputy Observer vomited three liters of blood, and seventy percent of the staff, due to excessive mental exertion and their minds trapped in a high-dimensional maze, have... collectively gone bald! The Imperial Astronomical Observatory has now been renamed 'Northern Di Guangmingding', and court meetings are ablaze with candlelight, a magnificent spectacle! However, our function as a stargazer and calendar maker has been completely paralyzed! I beg the General's wife to show mercy and grant us some hair-growing medicinal poisons..."

**Southern Xinjiang Witch God Temple:** "...Our country's High Priest, using his innate witchcraft Gu, 'Thousand Pupils,' glimpsed a formula fleetingly written on the wall of No. 3 Ding-shaped jar in your mansion (possibly describing the topological folding of multidimensional space). Overjoyed, he retreated into seclusion to comprehend it. Three days later, he emerged, laughing uncontrollably, claiming to have mastered the secrets of spatial travel! He then used himself as a test subject, performing the secret technique... As a result, the High Priest successfully teleported his left arm to the temple's roof beam, but his right leg became lodged in the altar incense burner, and his torso is now missing! The temple is now searching for the High Priest's body, and all spatial research has been urgently halted! Please, Madam General, grant us a locating Gu to recover the High Priest's body..."

**Xiling Ministry of Revenue:** "...Trouble arises from within! Our Ministry of Revenue's Vice Minister, a master of mathematics, paid a large sum on the black market for a pottery shard allegedly imbued with your mansion's 'Pacifier's Energy' (with traces of light resembling a fiscal and tax optimization formula). Overjoyed, he defied popular opinion and used this formula as the core of his tax reforms. The new system is called the 'Pacifier Optimal Progressive Tax Method.' However, this method is incredibly complex, requiring the use of imaginary numbers, chaotic variables, and... the parameter of the pacifier's bite! Countless tax collectors' abacuses have been shattered, and the people's tax bills are like incomprehensible scriptures! Even more terrifying, after ten days of using this method, the national treasury accounts have spontaneously calculated that 'national credit must be collateralized by the President's pacifier'! The values ​​in the treasury and the accounts are now drastically different, causing market chaos and merchants to close shop! Please, Madam General, send the Second Young Master to recover the pacifier's energy, or... lend it to the people to reassure them."

** Donghuang Ministry of Works:** "… Tragic! Tragic! Tragic! Our nation has poured all its might into building the 'Flying Rainbow Across the Chasm' Bridge across the Lancang River. The blueprints represent the painstaking efforts of generations of master craftsmen. However, the main bridge engineer stumbled upon a set of 'Eternal Number Material Mechanics Formulas' on the wall of your mansion's No. 5 A-shaped jar (rumored to have been accidentally left there by His Highness Zero while chewing his hand). Astonished, he insisted on adjusting the bridge structure according to these magical formulas. On the day the new bridge was completed, the streets were deserted! However, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, something strange happened! The bridge... it... it activated on its own! The bridge The bridge's components wriggled and reorganized like living things, countless mysterious patterns of light emerging! The bridge emanated a resounding sound like a resounding bell (actually, a formula)! Finally, the entire bridge broke free from its foundations, transforming into a giant dragon composed of steel and light symbols. It soared into the air, sailing up the river, claiming to seek the 'source of mathematics'! The Lancang River's chasm reappeared, and the people on both sides sighed in despair at the sight of the river! May the General's wife quickly dispatch the Third Young Master to retrieve the bridge in a cloud boat, or... may His Highness Ling write another 'formula for the bridge to return home obediently'?

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